Vol. IV. 

 1904 



] MiLLIGAN, Notes on a Trip to the Wongan Hills, W.A. 7 



Malurus pulcherrimus and Calamanthus montanellus appear 

 to be associated species. Both were found by us in the foothills 

 of the Stirling Ranges. 



COASTAL SPECIES. 

 Petrceca campbelli Meliornis mystacalis 



Meliornis longirostris Acanthorhynchus superciliosus. 



All these species appear to be purely coastal. They are cer- 

 tainly found on the inland side of the Darling Ranges, but then 

 only in the southern coastal districts. 



ULTRAMONTANE SPECIES. 



Malurus leucopterus Sericornis brunnea 



Malurus pulcherrimus Acanthiza uropygialis 



Micrceca assimilis Hylacola cauta 



Oreoica cristata Cinclosoma castanonotum. 

 Pomatorhinus superciliosus 



Having worked the coast from Lake Yanchep to Cape Leeuwin, 

 I can confidently say that not any one of the above species is 

 found on the coastal side of the Range. Being birds with a 

 limited power of flight, and being more terrestrial than arboreal 

 in habit, it is probable that the Darling Ranges formed an 

 insuperable barrier to their eastward movements rather than 

 that they had a predilection for inland dry areas, x^s against 

 the latter notion it may be mentioned that Oreoica cristata, 

 Pomatorhinus superciliosus, Calamanthus montanellus, and 

 Malurus pulcherrimus are found in the Stirling Ranges, which 

 are well within the coastal influence of the Southern Ocean, and 

 where the rainfall is the heaviest and most frequent in the State. 

 All these last-named species, excepting Malurus pulcherrimus, 

 are more numerous than in the Wongan Hills district. I do 

 not pretend to say that the species enumerated under the last 

 two headings are the only ones inhabiting coastal and inland 

 areas respectively. They are the only ones which call for 

 attention, resultant upon the trip to the Wongan Hills. 



Before concluding this paper by adding the list of species 

 obtained or observed during the trip, I should like to refer to 

 an instance or two of the direct influence that the avifauna 

 has in the distribution of the flora. Whilst scouring the bases 

 and sides of the Hills I observed that the quandong trees, or 

 native peach trees, as they are locally called, frequently appeared 

 in groups, and I was much perplexed how to account for it. 

 However, one day I came across a similar group of these trees 

 growing on the saline plains, but looking very sickly. It 

 suddenly occurred to me that Emus were the agency of dis- 

 tribution, and that, after swallowing them, the hard, indigestible 

 nuts passed uninjured.* On mentioning the matter to a 

 solitary cattle-minder whom we met, he stated the berries were 

 in country districts more frequently called " Emu berries " than 



* This is only another proof uf a well-known fact. — H. K. 



